Fibers
by greygrrl99
Summary: Day in and day out, the Miami CSIs devote themselves to justice. What happens when Eric Delko and Tim Speedle begin devoting their time...to each other? (Currently Unfinished) Feedback always welcome!


Title: Fibers (1/?)   
TV Show: CSI Miami   
Rating: R (overall; this chapter, G)   
Paring: Speed/Delko   
Category: PWP, Romance, Angst   
Archive: Please ask before archiving.   
Spoilers: None that I can tell—let me know if I do!   
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.   
AN: My first fanfic—enjoy! (Also, not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine!)  
  
Eric Delko did a double take as he walked into the lab. His colleague, Tim Speedle, was hunched over the worktable, carefully separating fibers with a pair of tweezers. From the extra-wrinkledness of Tim's shirt and the vague bristle on his face, Eric had the sneaking suspicion Speed hadn't moved from that spot since he started working on the fiber evidence yesterday afternoon.  
  
"Good morning," he ventured, touching Speed lightly on the shoulder as he approached. Tim lifted his head slowly, dark shadows circling his eyes.  
  
"If you say so," he mumbled. Delko grinned at him and shook his head.  
  
"You didn't leave last night, did you? You need to get some sleep!" Speed nodded, straightening up and moving his shoulders as if they were stiff.  
  
"I just—I just wanted to make some headway on this case. We've got nothing. H and Calleigh are going back to the house for another look. I just thought..." He stopped weakly and shrugged. "I need some coffee. What are you up to?"  
  
Eric motioned at the styrofoam cup in his hand. "I'm fueled up for now. I've got tread from the driveway to work on today, then I think I'm going to take another look at the scene photos." He paused, then said, with another wicked grin: "If you're not going to head home, at least do us a favor and take a shower." He caught a glimpse of Speed flipping him the bird as he left the lab.

* * *

They weren't good friends, true; but they weren't strangers either. Tim mulled over his relationship with Eric as he stripped out of his clothes in the locker room. He wasn't sure why he cared, suddenly, about Eric's opinion of him, but lately he was tired of being the sour loner of their department. Ever since Megan Donner left the CSI, he felt like he was trying to find his place in the group, his role. He realized that the other CSIs had gone out of their way to be friendly and he responded with sarcasm or disinterest. But the long nights of double or triple shifts, of staring at photos and minuscule pieces of evidence were wearing on him: as much as he hated to admit, Tim knew he needed people in his life.  
  
So that's where the shower came in. Tim shook his head ruefully as he got into the tiled shower and turned on the hot water. Like Eric Delko would really take it as some sort of sign of friendship that Tim took his advice. Like Eric would really notice that he had taken a shower for his benefit, like Eric would really...  
  
Tim stopped himself. Why did he care so much if Eric noticed or not?

* * *

Eric felt himself being jostled. He turned to see Valera standing next to him, a bemused look on her face. "Remembering a hot date?" she teased. He gave her a blank look. She clarified: "You were gazing off. The computer screen's in front of you. You were looking about... there—," and she motioned at a point far above the monitor. Eric shrugged sheepishly.  
  
"I'm just thinking."  
  
Valera laughed. "You know, it's tempting to make a joke about that pretty face of yours and what your thoughts must be about, but I'll resist." Eric frowned at her and with an exaggerated gesture, focused his attention on the monitor. Valera laughed again.  
  
"Yeah, I get the hint. I'll leave you to your fantasies...I mean, thoughts." As she left the lab, Calleigh Duquesne entered, buttoning her lab coat and pulling her long, blond hair over the collar. Eric nodded his head in greeting and asked, "Have you seen Speed? I think I've got fibers in my tread from the driveway and I wanted to compare notes."  
  
Calleigh walked over and looked at the pictures on the monitor that Eric was referring to. "I think Speed is showering," she answered. Eric chuckled softly, and at Calleigh's confused look, said:  
  
"I asked him to do us a favor and shower—he's been here since last night." Calleigh smiled as she flipped through the rest of the photographs sitting on the lab table.  
  
"Well, if I had known all we needed was to have you ask Speed to do something for him to actually do it, I would have sent a list of requests to you long ago." She looked up and grinned. "Maybe it's puppy love?"  
  
Eric gave her a startled look. "What?" Calleigh laughed and pushed him in the shoulder.  
  
"Oh, stop it. You know what I mean. I think secretly a part of him wants to be like you. Or something like that. Maybe he wants to be friends."  
  
"Or maybe he wants to be clean," Eric offered dryly, and Calleigh shot him a look as she moved over to the unused microscope at the end of the worktable.  
  
"Fine, fine, be the cynic. But women have a sense of these things, and I think Speed wants to come out of his shell. It would be nice if you could...encourage him." She flashed Eric one of her signature light-bulb bright grins and Eric found himself slowly returning the smile. Pleased, Calleigh focused her attention on her microscope slides and Eric returned to his photos.  
  
But he couldn't concentrate—instead, he wondered at Calleigh's words. Puppy love? What did she mean by that? Eric had visions of 6th grade girls drawing swirly hearts around names in spiral notebooks and that was a more than impossible way to think about Speed. He wondered, though, if Calleigh was right about Speed wanting to be more friendly with him. He decided to make a point of asking Tim if he wanted to get a beer after work—he could always use another wingman. 


End file.
